Control means for mold-making machines



-c. G. SHAFFER AND G. mais. CONTROL .MEANS FOR MGLD MAKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I4, I92I.

mecum.. .n Nwe DN" mw m [Go- 5o. hun Y6 IMG. .,cm.. Y

C. G. SHAFFER AND G. TREFS.

\ coNTnoL VMEANS FOR MOLD MAKING MACHINES.

` APPLICATION FILEDJAN. I4. 1921. 1,379,421 y l 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- enfle e Tre s,

Patented May 24, 1921,.

UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G. SHAFFER, 0F PATERSON, AND GEORGE TREFS, OF MONTVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

CONTROL MEANS FOR MOLD-MAKING MACINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 24, 1921.

To @ZZ 107mm t may concern: v Y

Be it known that we, CHARLES G. SHAFFER and Groen Tnnrs, citizens of the United States, residing at Paterson and Montville, respectively, in the counties of Passaic and Morris respectively, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Control Means for Moldllialring Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for making molds and particularly to that class of such apparatus in which the operations et' compacting the sand or other mold material in the flask and withdrawing the mold from the pattern after forming are. an incident of the flow of a fluid, as air, steam or electricity. For example, in machines using air as the power medium the main table or head of the machine is the movable element olf a cylinder-and-piston arrangement, being capable of being reciprocated by air to cause bumping and consequent settling of the mold material in the flask or orp movement plungerefashion by air to force the mold material against a ramming head and -thus squeeze the mold material into compact state, and it in turn Jrorms the relatively fixed element of another piston-and cylinder arrangement the movable part of which is movable by air to raise or strip the mold, after the compacting of the mold material has thus been accomplished, from the pattern, which remains in fixed relation to said main table or head. The operation of such machines as at present constructed is entirely subject to the will of the attendant, in consequence of which the product varies greatly in quality, the mold being either overor under-compacted, and much time is wasted except in those extraordinary cases where special skill and care are devoted to the work. Thus, in an air-operated machine, since the control of the air is manual, the attendantJ can cause the material to be bumped or squeezed not enough or too much for the good of the product and he can waste time in the overdoing of either of these operations and also when, having raised or stripped the mold from the pat tern, he remo-ves the mold, lowers the flaskframe, places a fresh flask on the latter and fills it with the mold material. These difficulties are a source of constant annoyance and great expense in all molding shops using molding machines; and it is the object,

therefore, of this invention toprovide a control means for such a machine whereby its operations will be quite beyond the control ofthe attendant and fixed Ito occur at regular or constant time intervals, so that the product will be standardized and waste of 'time avoided.

ln the accompanying drawings,

Figure l shows a mold making machine provided with, our control means;

Fig. 2 is al plan of said control means;

ldigs. 3 and l are elevations of the cams thereof; and

Fig. 5 shows in side elevation the brakin regulator of' said control means.

rlhe drawings show a mold making machine of the air-operated type. t is its cyl inder-base and is its main table or head secured at the top of the main piston c arranged within said cylinder-base. The machine may be either of the type adapted to hump the sand or other material in the flask in order to` settle it or of the type wherein the filled flash is moved toward a ramming head in order to compress the material; the present machineis one of the .first type and to this end its cylinder a has a fluid exhaust port a near its lower end. ribove tno head o are the open frames d and e (the latter surrounding the former) for respectively supporting the platen or pattern plate f and the flask g; these are supported above head Z) by uprights h and i extending upwardly from said head. The flask has dowels g which enter suitable holes in the frame c for centering it with reference thereto.` The piston c affords at y' a cylinder for the secondary piston 7c whose upper portion is a plate is which by means of uprights Z supports the flask-raising frame m which surrounds the frame c. n indicates a Huid supply source (here, air under pressure) and 0 and 7J conductors for the fluid leading from said source respectively to cylinder a, at its lower end, and to the interior of a chamber c in piston c, here shown as containing a sluggish liquid as oil, adapted to be forced by the fluid pressure through a port j into cylinder j for the raising of secondary piston le. The conductors 0 and n have 'fiuid-low check devices o and p which normally close them against passage of the fluid but which `on movement of their movable members 0' or p permit such passage; they areV here a well known type of valve whose movable member or valve proper 0V p is spring-held in closed position. Nhen conductor o is opened the fluid flowing therethrough enters cylinder a, raises the piston c and exhausts at a', so that the piston falls, these operations being repeated so long as the fiuidflow is allowed to continue and effecting reciprocation of the piston and all that it carries and a consequent bumping of the sandV in the flask. Then conductor p is opened the fluid pressure becomes effective to raise piston 7c and consequently theframe m to lift or strip the flask and contained sand from the pattern A resting on platen At present the control of the conductors is manual and entirely within the will of the attendant. Generally, therefore, the mold material is bumped too much or too little, time is wasted between the stopping of the bumping operation and the starting of the stripping operation, and too much time is allowed in removing the mold from the raised frame m, returning said frame, placing a fresh flask thereon and filling the flask preparatory to another bumping operation. We therefore take the matter of control of the conductors out of the hands of the workmen, as follows:

In a suitable support we provide a constantly going master means to control both the devices 0 p. ln the illustrated example, which shows a quite simple and effective form of such means, it consists of a rotary shaft g having fixed thereon cams r s whose cam-peripheries are adapted respectively to wipe against the ends of and so move the movable members o and p of said devices 0 and p" to the positions for opening the conductors 0, p, t being an electric motor for driving said shaft and a transmission gearing connecting said shaft with the motor shaft and adapted to stepdown the speed of the latter. The support is shown as a base o having brackets ai to support shaft g and the transmission gearing; this support may also carry the motor and it is preferred also that it carry the devices o p not only to make a self-contained system of all the parts concerned in the control but to insure their reliable coaction. ln order Vto adjust the speed of shaft Q' the bearing afforded therefor by oneof the brackets a is split, as shown in Fig. 5, and the split part provided with bolt y having a thumbnut e so that the bearing can be clamped with more or less pressure uponthe shaft and thus afford a variable brakeresistance. 2 is a cover for protecting shaft g and other parts concerned inthe automatic control of the fluid flow from being tampered with and from the dust and dirtof the foundry. Y

It will be understood that, as shown, the cams are removable from shaft g and so that others may be substituted therefor.

With a molding machine provided with `our control means the movements of the fluid actuated parts, as in bumping and stripping in the machine illustrated anddescribed by way of example, are timed to occur at definite intervals of time, so that for the reasons explained and apparent to those skilled in the art the product will not only be improved but a great increase in production will ensue because the attendant will be required to adapt his manual work in serving the machine to the movements of the machine. 1

The devices 0 and p', which are arranged in the support u directly under the cams of the rotary master member, are held rigidly therein but so as to be adjustable toward and from the master member by having screwed on their threaded portions 3 3 the clamping nuts l l.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. In combination, with the fluid actuated moving element of a mold making machine, a fluid source and means to transmit fluid from said source and cause it to actuate said element including a fluid conductor, means to alternately check and release the flow through said conductor including Y a constantly going master member.

2. controlling means for substantially the purpose set'forth including, in combination, a support, a constantly driven rotary master member journaled in the support,

and a controlling device mounted in the support and having a movable'control member held in position to be actuated by the master member.

3. A controlling means for substantially the purpose set forth including, in combination, a support, a constantly drivenrotary master member journaled in the support,

'tion7 a support having a base, a constantly 'driven master member` movable in the support above the base, a controlling device extending through `the base and shiftable therein toward and from said member and having a movable control member held in position to be actuated by the master member, and nuts screwed on Vsaid device and clamping the same shiftably to the base.

p jIn testimony whereofwe affix our 'signatures. l

onasfs. snnrrnn. GEORGE raars. 

